L'Isle-Verte united behind residence owners

Roch Bernier, owner of the Résidence du Havre seniors home leaves a memorial mass for the victims of the fatal fire in L’Isle-Verte on Sunday Jan. 26, 2014.John Mahoney
/ The Gazette

Roch Bernier, owner of the Résidence du Havre seniors home makes a statement to reporters after a memorial mass for the victims of the fatal fire in L’Isle-Verte, Sunday Jan. 26, 2014.John Mahoney
/ The Gazette

A woman, holding a picture of her husband who died in last week’s seniors residence fire, arrives for a commemorative service for the victims, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014 in L’Isle-VerteRyan Remiorz
/ THE CANADIAN PRESS

Quebec Premier Pauline Marois leaves a commemorative service for victims of last week’s fatal fire at a seniors residence, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014 in L’Isle-VerteRyan Remiorz
/ THE CANADIAN PRESS

Quebec Liberal Party leader Philippe Couillard, left, and Jean D’Amour, Liberal MNA for the area arrive for a memorial mass for the victims of the fatal fire at the Résidence du Havre seniors home in L’Isle-Verte Sunday Jan. 26, 2014.John Mahoney
/ The Gazette

Quebec Premier Pauline Marois, right, talks with local officials including Mayor Ursule Theriault, second from left, after visiting the scene of the fatal Résidence du Havre seniors home fire in L’Isle-Verte Sunday Jan. 26, 2014.John Mahoney
/ The Gazette

A couple of women shield an older woman from the wind and cold as they arrive for memorial mass for the victims of the fatal fire at the Résidence du Havre seniors home in L’Isle-Verte Sunday Jan. 26, 2014.John Mahoney
/ The Gazette

People leave a commemorative service for victims of last week’s fatal fire at a seniors residence, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014 in L’Isle-VerteRyan Remiorz
/ THE CANADIAN PRESS

A man hugs the doorman at St. Jean Baptist de L’Isle Verte church following a memorial mass for the victims of the fatal fire at the Résidence du Havre seniors’ home in L’Isle-Verte Sunday Jan. 26, 2014.John Mahoney
/ The Gazette

People leave a memorial mass for the victims of the fatal fire at the Résidence du Havre seniors home in L’Isle-Verte Sunday Jan. 26, 2014.John Mahoney
/ The Gazette

Ursule Theriault, mayor of L’Isle-Verte arrives for a memorial mass for the victims of the fatal fire at the Résidence du Havre seniors home in L’Isle-Verte Sunday Jan. 26, 2014.John Mahoney
/ The Gazette

From now on, people in the village where Arnaud Côté has lived and toiled his whole life may also know him as something else. A hero. A true...

L’ISLE VERTE — The 800 people who weathered howling winds and biting cold Sunday to honour this village’s dead let out a communal gasp at a special memorial service as parish priest Gilles Frigon said the name of the last person who would offer a testimonial.

Then, almost as one, they rose and applauded as Roch Bernier, co-owner of the Résidence du Havre, walked to the altar of Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste-de-L’Isle-Verte to offer an emotional tribute to the “members of our family” who perished when fire levelled the older section of the private 52-unit seniors’ home.

“Our hearts are filled with suffering and enormous pain,” said Bernier, who spoke on behalf of himself and Irène Plante, his former partner, who still managed the residence.

“We saw these people day and night. We loved them very much, it is very difficult for us to go through this,” he said, singling out Plante, who was at the residence during the fire and reportedly helped pull survivors away from the flames. “She had been there 15 years so everyone knew her. She’s an exceptional person,” he said, to enthusiastic applause.

In the days since Thursday’s early morning fire claimed the lives of up to 32 people, many questions have been raised about what caused the fire and why it spread with such ferocity.

Rumours swirl of possible causes: a 96-year-old man who may have broken the rules by smoking in his room, someone who may have used a space heater to ward off the chill on a night when the wind off the St. Lawrence River made it feel like –35 Celsius, a possible electrical short.

Broader debate is focused on whether stricter norms for sprinkler systems, firewalls and overnight staff could have prevented the fire from galloping out of control and saved lives.

But anyone who expected residents of this farming community of 1,500 people to turn on Bernier and Plante, channelling sorrow at the loss of parents and grandparents into anger and retribution, got it wrong.

“This is a major tragedy. It will become part of Quebec’s history that won’t be forgotten,” said Pierre-André Fournier, the archbishop of Rimouski who snuck into the service late because the highway east of L’Isle-Verte was closed for several hours due to snow squalls. “One thing that really impresses me is the respectful way the community has treated the owners of the residence. That’s something I haven’t seen before.”

Unlike the Lac-Mégantic tragedy last July, when the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway and its abrasive chairman, Ed Burkhardt, became an easy target, the L’Isle-Verte fire has no simple villains.

In interviews since the fire, people who visited the seniors’ residence regularly, whether to visit with friends, play bingo or visit the clinic and pharmacy, have gone out of their way to praise the owners, and particularly Plante — or “Madame Irène,” as everyone called her — for her level of care and compassion for the elderly people entrusted to her care.

“Never, never, would I have thought such a thing would happen at that residence, which was very well kept,” said Monique Therrien, 83. A retired psychiatric nurse from Montreal who moved to L’Isle-Verte 15 years ago, Therrien lives in a house directly across the street from the residence. She made her first new friends in town chatting with residents who were healthy enough to go out for a stroll on her street, which leads down to the harbour and the ferry dock.

“For Madame Irène, it was her family. She showed extraordinary respect when she was taking care of her patients. Mr. Bernier, I didn’t know as well. But I saw how she was with the volunteers. I found she was a good, good person.”

The most powerful vote of confidence came from Lucie Bérubé, a young nurse who worked at the clinic located in the residence.

“I think Irène knew more about what was wrong with my patients than I did. She showed great respect and compassion.”

Bérubé said the main reasons she decided to work at the clinic in L’Isle-Verte was because both of her grandmothers were living there. By the time she started working, her father’s mother had passed away. But she was thrilled with the time she was able to spend time near her other grandmother. “I remember hearing her in the waiting room, bragging to her friends. ‘The nurse, she’s my granddaughter.’ ”

Bérubé’s maternal grandmother was among the victims of Thursday’s fire. Yet she said she is as eager as ever to work with old people, recalling how much she has learned from the people at the Résidence du Havre, most of whom soldiered on despite serious health problems.

“They taught me how life is precious, about how to live with courage and serenity and to find joy in every day.”

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